Trump impeachment trial begins in U.S.

The impeachment trial of U.S. President Donald Trump is now underway. 

The trial adjourned after supreme court chief justice John Roberts was sworn in to preside over the trial. He then swore in the senators, who also signed an oath book.

Lead impeachment manager Adam Schiff read from resolution impeaching Trump for high crimes and misdemeanors. "President Trump used the powers of the presidency in a manner that compromised the national security of the United States and undermined the integrity of the United States democratic process," the Guardian cited Schiff as saying.

Trump was impeached in December for an alleged scheme in which he pressured Ukraine to announce false investigations of the former vice-president Biden and then fought an inquiry into the scheme. 

Trump, in his turn, says he just wanted to fight corruption in Ukraine. He is the third U.S. president to be impeached.

The senior research fellow at the European Research Centre of the International Relations Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladimir Olenchenko, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that the impeachment issue has entered the stage of discussing the results of the impeachment vote in the Senate. "To preserve pathos, the speaker of the House of Representatives formally delivered documents to the Senate. As a rule, this is done by courier," he said.

"Today there will be a vote on whether to approve impeachment or not," the expert noted.

The senior research fellow at the European Research Centre of the International Relations Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences further noted that a new alleged evidence - a video recording of Trump’s conversation with Ukrainian businessman Lev Parnas - is being discussed in the media. "But this record is of poor quality and cannot be considered as a convincing argument. Nevertheless, the fact of the conversation is not refuted, so it is media-fueled now," the expert said.

Speaking about how this situation may affect U.S.-Ukraine relations, the expert drew attention to the need to consider two possible scenarios. "If the Senate succumbs to the pressure of the Democrats and votes for impeachment, then this will be one situation, when the issue of Ukraine will go far aside. If the Senate rejects impeachment, then I think that American democracy will he threw back at Ukraine's sources and leadership everything," Olenchenko concluded.